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Building a better future

Southtown Construction provides job training and life skills By Holly Whisler “I am the youngest of 10 kids. We grew up in the projects of Springfield. My father was killed when I was teenager, and my mom raised us on public assistance and what she earned from her job as a waitress,” said Calvin Pitts […]

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Horace Mann helps teachers and students

By Janet Seitz Among Springfield’s major employers is Horace Mann, founded in 1945 and the nation’s largest financial services company focused on providing educators and school employees with insurance and retirement solutions. With that presence comes responsibility to give back to its educator base and the communities in which they work and live. Historically, the […]

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Post-pandemic party planning

Event planners see increased demand as restrictions ease By Carey Smith Audrey Kondelis got her start in party planning last summer, inspired after a fire at MJ’s Fish and Chicken Express closed the restaurant for an extended time. Kondelis’ birthday was approaching and as she says, “I felt bad for them, and I thought, why […]

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Downtown’s upper stories

By Carey Smith The heart of a vibrant downtown is its residents, who often work, live and play all within the same walkable community. The patterns of revitalization repeat in mid-sized cities across the nation. After decades of development on the edges of a community, which unerringly decimate downtowns and city cores, residents begin to […]

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Nonprofits adapt to COVID-19 – Demand for services increases while fundraising options are reduced

By Carey Smith For many Americans, leaning heavily on social service agencies has gotten them through the pandemic. But how have these nonprofits adapted and coped with the increased demand but often reduced fundraising opportunities? For Midwest Mission Distribution Center, which specializes in disaster relief, the transition was fairly smooth. The organization distributed three times […]

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BRANDT and Hello Beverages launch new partnership

By Karen Ackerman Witter A partnership between BRANDT, a Springfield-based global agricultural company, and hellowater, a consumer beverage company, may initially seem surprising. However, it is in keeping with BRANDT’s entrepreneurial spirit and based on patented BRANDT technology. Together, these companies will launch a new beverage product in March that supports immune defense and elimination […]

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